New Hampshire: Senate

My hope last night was that marriage equality could still be saved if the Governor and others stick to the intent of their statements and not get too literalist.

This is a very good sign in that direction, imo. Dorgan:

"Gov. Lynch articulated strong principles that he would need in any version of the bill in order for him to sign it," said spokesman Colin Manning. "While he will continue to talk with lawmakers, those principles must be maintained in any final version of the bill. . . . As he said last week, if the Legislature passes legislation that maintains his principles, he will sign it.

Anything worth fighting for is worth keeping fighting for until you win.

A lot of people worked long and hard to get to this point, and to almost win final approval of our cause today.  So, let's not lose it because of lack of patience, or due to frustration.  We can do this.

Criticizing the Governor, or pointing fingers to a few House members, does no good.  Finding a way to get more House Reps to vote FOR us in two weeks will.  

What has to happen is the Governor's requested language to protect freedom and independence of religion has to pass into statute, and that means House Bill 73 has to pass.

State Senator Jeb Bradley provides a nice rundown of what's happening in our Senate in this guest post...

This past week the New Hampshire Senate considered numerous pieces of legislation that while not nearly as important as the looming debate on the budget, nevertheless affects citizens' lives from personal liberties to health care.  I will briefly describe several significant legislative initiatives and my responses to them.

HB-391 which passed, authorized the Department of Transportation to install what is known as open road tolling---a faster version of E-Z Pass.  Unfortunately it has a cost and will require higher tolls.  While open road tolls are good idea, I voted No.

Yesterday State Democratic Party Chairman Raymond Buckley called on NHGOP Chairman John H. Sununu and Republican Legislators to support an amendment to the marriage equality bill which would protect religious freedom.  But today John H. Sununu took to the airwaves and told WGIR AM listeners that the amendment to provide additional religious protections is "trivial."  
"The amendment to the marriage equality bill goes a long way to protect religious freedom, but John Sununu has chosen politics over the rights of religious organizations and has even gone so far as to call their rights "trivial." Do Republican leaders really want to be on record opposing protections for churches and clergy?" said New Hampshire Democratic Party Chairman Raymond Buckley.